Yale Football Blog

The Bulldogs secured their 4th Ivy League Championship in the last 6 years with a 23-18 win over the Crimson at the Bowl in front of a crowd of over 51,000 spectators.  Congratulations to the players and coaches on an amazing back-to-back title run!

Grooms had ups and downs throughout the contest but delivered with the game on the line in the 4th quarter. Two promising Yale drives were derailed by turnovers from Grooms as he was under heavy pressure and was trying to force miraculous plays. Once the Crimson had taken the lead, Grooms found Tipton open along the sideline for a 31-yard gain for one of the greatest receptions in Yale’s history. Tipton managed to secure the pass and tap one foot in bounds right in front of Tim Murphy who successfully pleaded the case that Tipton was out of bounds before an overruling from the replay officials. On the next series, Grooms perfectly placed a ball to the corner of the end zone that Pantelis snagged over a defender in tight coverage. Although Grooms accounted for just 12 net rushing yards (64 yards gained, 52 yards lost), he had impactful runs and scrambles all contest. Pitsenberger, Alston, and Denney had tremendous performances at the running back position. Pitsenberger rushed for 99 hard fought yards and left a few more yards on the table as he tried to outrun defenders laterally instead of cutting inside. Alston had a strong showing in his final contest as he led the Bulldogs with 5.0 yards per carry. Denney filled in with Peterson out with an injury and was a pleasant surprise in the running game with 4.5 yards per carry and a touchdown. Yale only completed 10 passes in the contest but the wideouts made the most of their limited receptions. Lindley led the unit with 4 receptions for 39 yards and a touchdown while Tipton and Pantelis combined for another 3 receptions. The offensive line had their hands full against a stout defensive front yet only allowed 3 sacks and paved the way for 13 rushing first downs that allowed Yale to possess the ball over 35 minutes in the contest. The Bulldogs were fortunate that Durand was healthy as Bluhm and Charron battled through injuries during the contest. Junior OL Connor Smith filled in admirably at the guard position for much of the contest following Charron’s injury. Hawes and Yates were both solid at run blocking.

While the offense did just enough to win the contest, the defense and special teams deserve much of the credit for the victory. The defense limited Harvard to just 4 of 14 on third downs and 0 of 3 on fourth downs. The Crimson’s 1^st Team All-Ivy running back was held to 50 rushing yards and no touchdowns. Vaughn was dominant with 10 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, a forced fumble and an interception that was returned for a touchdown but called back due to a penalty. Murphy did not study the Yale-Princeton film closely enough as he ran Harvard’s QB up the middle at Vaughn in the 4^th quarter resulting in a fumble and shoulder injury for Jaden Craig. Moore had a nice contest with 4 tackles, half a tackle for loss and tight pass coverage. Patterson was a headache for the Crimson throughout the game and allowed his fellow defensive linemen to rack up impressive statistics. Larry notched another 3 sacks in the contest while Gulley, Shaber, Tyler, Egodogbare and Yang all made key stops. Owens and Guyton played well at the cornerback positions with Guyton sealing the victory on 4^th down with tight coverage. Daniyan was beat on a flea flicker on Harvard’s opening possession but bounced back to have a stellar showing. Tarver showed promise against Harvard’s rushing attack but was out of position on both of the Crimson’s touchdown passes.

Bosman made his only field goal attempt of 33 yards and averaged 38 yards per punt. Florio handled most of the punting duties and placed two of his four punts inside the redzone although his 25-yard punt in the 4^th quarter nearly proved disastrous. The punt block and field goal block teams were gamechangers for Yale. Dayne and Raymond each blocked a punt while Egodogbare blocked an extra point attempt that forced Harvard to chase additional points on failed two-point conversions.

Congratulations to Team 150!

MVP: Joseph Vaughn, Linebacker

Senior of the Year: Joseph Vaughn, Linebacker

Junior of the Year: Alvin Gulley, Jr., Defensive Tackle

Sophomore of the Year: Joshua Pitsenberger, Running Back

Rookie of the Year: Osize Daniyan, Safety

Most Improved over Career: Jermaine Baker, Linebacker

Offensive Lineman of the Year: Jonathan Mendoza, Tackle

Defensive Lineman of the Year: Clay Patterson, Defensive End

Offensive Skill Position Player of the Year: Mason Tipton, Wide Receiver

Defensive Skill Position Player of the Year: Joseph Vaughn, Linebacker

Specialist of the Year: Jack Bosman, Kicker/Punter

Most Underrated Player: Zion Dayne, Special Teams

1^st Team All-Ivy

Kiran Amegadjie, OL

Jonathan Mendoza, OL

Nolan Grooms, QB

Mason Tipton, WR

Clay Patterson, DL

Joseph Vaughn, LB

Wande Owens, DB

2^nd Team All-Ivy

Joshua Pitsenberger, RB

Jackson Hawes, TE

Honorable Mention All-Ivy

Michael Bennett, OL

Alvin Gulley, Jr., DL

Hamilton Moore, LB

Sean Guyton, DB

The Bulldogs remain in the hunt for a share of the Ivy League Championship following Saturday’s thrilling 36-28 victory over Princeton in double overtime. Yale improved to 6-3 on the season (4-2 Ivy) heading into the 139^th playing of The Game. Princeton was officially eliminated from championship contention with the loss, while Harvard secured at least a share of the crown with a triple overtime win over Penn. Dartmouth could also share the championship with a win on Saturday plus a Harvard loss.

Grooms was spectacular versus the Tigers completing 76.7% of his passes for 232 yards, a touchdown, and no interceptions. In the ground game, Grooms rushed for 45 yards including a 24-yard touchdown scamper on the first drive of the game to put Yale up 7-0. Pitsenberger put together the top performance of his season with 131 rushing yards on 28 carries (4.7 yards per carry) and added 3 touchdowns including the game winner in overtime. Alston appeared to be back in peak form racking up 5.3 yards per carry. After his strong performance last week, Peterson struggled with just 1.3 yards per carry and had a costly fumble that limited his playing time. The offensive line welcomed back Durand into the starting lineup and the physicality at the line of scrimmage allowed the running backs to gash Princeton in the running game. Princeton’s aggressive defense did notch two sacks on Grooms, but the offensive line deserves much of the credit for posting 36 points on the top scoring defense in the nation. Tipton dominated the defensive backs for the Tigers with 10 catches for 130 yards. Pantelis had crucial catches throughout including a potential season-saving grab on an errant pass over the middle that did not appear to be intended for him. With Nenad out of the lineup and Shipp potentially injured on the first play of the contest, Felton saw additional playing time hauling in the only touchdown reception of the afternoon for the Elis.

Princeton entered the contest with a very talented offensive roster that had failed to produce due to turnovers, penalties, and costly errors. The Tigers played a relatively clean game without any turnovers, yet the Bulldogs were up to the task of limiting Stenstrom and company for much of the contest including overtime. Yale did fall victim to the trick plays that were expected including a botched passing play from Barber that he converted into a 25-yard rushing play and the flea flicker to Colella for a touchdown. Vaughn was unstoppable on his way to weekly Ivy League honors with 12 tackles, 5 tackles for a loss, and a pass breakup. Our defensive front really stepped up the intensity in pass rushing in this contest sacking Stenstrom 3 times. Larry racked up 2 sacks and narrowly missed on a third, while Tyler added another sack for a 9-yard Princeton loss. Yale’s rushing defense was far from perfect with Volker averaging 6.4 yards per carry, however, the toll of running up the middle against the Bulldogs caught up with him eventually as he was knocked out of the contest with a concussion. The loss of Volker was a tremendous blow to the Tigers, especially in overtime as they became one dimensional. Owens was burned on the flea flicker play (along with the safeties) but more than made up for the error with two crucial pass breakups in overtime to seal the win. Guyton was targeted heavily by Princeton and struggled for the second week in a row.

Bosman missed a game winning field goal in overtime and had a 23-yard punt in the 1^st quarter that gave Princeton great field position on their first scoring drive. The punt return squad had a special outing as they blocked two punts (one by Dayne and the other by Belk) and gave Lindley room for a 17-yard punt return. It’s been great to see a dedicated senior like Dayne shine on special teams over the last few weeks.

The coaching staff clearly had a very productive week of preparation and showed the kind of offensive and defensive creativity that’s needed to win Ivy matchups.

The Bulldogs maintained their momentum with a 36-17 win over Brown on the road. Yale improved to 5-3 (3-2 Ivy) heading into the historic rivalry matchups with the opportunity to determine its own fate.

Grooms had a marvelous showing in his last career contest versus the Bears as he completed 15 of 27 passes for 220 yards, 4 TDs, and 3 interceptions. Ignore the interception total as two passes bounced off receivers in the end zone and the other interception came on a poor play call that Brown sniffed out based on Pantelis’ earlier screens. Grooms put the team on his shoulders in this contest as he picked apart a solid Brown secondary with pressure in his face and had tough runs to move the chains. Grooms led the squad in rushing with 21 rushes for 102 yards (4.9 yards per carry). The offensive line had an up and down performance as they allowed 3 sacks and failed to open rushing lanes for Pitsenberger and Alston but did deliver clean pockets at times and were able to spring Peterson loose. Having three top running backs with varied styles really paid off in this contest as the slight difference in timing and reads made it difficult for Brown to contain Peterson once they had adjusted to Pitsenberger’s style. Hawes returned from an injury yet still seemed to be dealing with some level of pain as he dropped two crucial passes in an uncharacteristic manner. The Bears simply could not contain Tipton as he raced ahead of defenders for 7 catches for 123 yards and 3 touchdowns. The wheel route to Peterson that resulted in a 45-yard touchdown was one of the best play designs that we have seen all year. Pantelis has returned to peak form and racked up 40 yards on 4 catches. Princeton does a tremendous job limiting rushers and shutting down WR screens, so the offensive staff has their work cut out for them in designing a successful attack strategy this week.

The defense held a dangerous Brown offense to just 10 points and 5 of 17 on 3^rd down attempts. The defensive line had one of its top performances of the season as they controlled the line of scrimmage and delivered several hits on Willcox. Aside from the reverses that caught the Bulldogs off guard, Brown’s rushing attack never found its footing with just 2.3 yards per carry on the afternoon. The starters along the front (Patterson, Gulley, Egodogbare, and Shaber) were very stout but it was a true group effort with big plays from McDonough, Yang, Mauney, Oxendine and Larry. The linebackers had a great showing with Vaughn leading the team in tackles, Moore delivering punishing blows, and Baker intercepting a pass as well as recovering a fumble. Kamara continued to impress with 5 tackles, an interception, and a hit on the QB. Daniyan keeps getting better and better and posted 6 tackles along with a key forced fumble after a long rush by the Bears. Owens provided tight coverage and stalled an important Brown drive with a TFL on 3^rd down. Guyton had a rough contest as he was burned on at least two occasions, although with Tarver out of position at times, he did not have much safety support. Cleaning up the mistakes in the secondary will need to be a point of focus in practice this week as Princeton has the best pure passer in the Ivy League and a cast of explosive wideouts.

The special teams units had a rocky start with a PAT blocked after Yale’s first touchdown, but bounced back to have their top performance of the year. Felton returned 3 kickoffs for a whopping 129 yards to give Yale great field position. Freshman Phoenix Grant blocked a punt that was recovered by Zion Dayne. Dayne also delivered a crushing hit on the first play of the game after Brown’s kick returner had difficulty securing the ball. Bosman made his only field goal attempt, a 21-yarder in the 2^nd quarter, and placed 2 of his 4 punts inside the red zone.